Silicon Valley: Solar Capital of the World?
By David Louie, June 1, 2007
Copyright 2007, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.
Source: ABC Local news KGO-TV
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=business&id=5360706
The next dream for many high-tech leaders is to see Silicon Valley turn into a serious center for solar energy technology. But, it is easier said than done as attendees learned at a conference in the valley today. In a room at San Jose’s Cypress Semiconductor may be the next Steve Jobs, David Packard or Bill Hewlett. Instead of computers, their focus will be on solar technology.
Instead of computers, their focus will be on solar technology. It’s only a $15 billion dollar industry today. To grow, a host of issues will need to be tackled. Tom McCalmont, Regrid Power Solar Electric Systems: “Things like building permits, utility interconnection standards, assuring that we have a trained work force. All of these are issues, and as we tackle them, we will proliferate the size of the market and the technology.”
Reducing costs is another issue. Installation runs about 20-percent of the cost. It’s half that amount in Japan and Germany. Land to build large solar panel arrays is expensive, especially in California. So, other ideas are being tested.
Bobby Ram, Sunpower Corporation: “Similar products can be used to put parking lot structures or arrays on top of parking structures that provide solar power and shade to vehicles during the day.” As these issues are addressed, the valley could see 20,000 to 40,000 jobs created.
Michael Curran, Nova: “One of the nice things about solar is the range of jobs here are not just in the design and engineering. They’re in the sales. They’re in the production. They’re in the installation. They’re in the logistics of moving things around. They’re in the maintenance. They’re in the operations, which is a wide range of jobs.”
Solar entrepreneurs are showing the same confidence and appetite for risk-taking as the semiconductor pioneers. Alan Gartner, Energy Connect: “I don’t think I would be here unless I thought that our company was wildly capable of morphing and changing and meeting whatever the needs of the energy market are.”
No one’s suggesting that the name Silicon Valley will soon be replaced by Solar Valley, but given the interest in solar technology, it appears that it’s going to play a major role in the future of the region’s economy.